8061'12'NVriVd 
A  "NT  'asnDEJAQ 


An  nhhth  tl\npttr  to 


BY 

HUBERT  HOWE  BANCROFT 


Profit  and  Loss  attending  the  European  War 
in  its  relation  to  America  and  the  Economic 
Potentialities  of  San  Francisco  Bay.  Price 
25c. 


NEW  YORK 
THE  BANCROFT  COMPANY,  PUBUSHERS 

1915 


RETROSPECTION 


OTHER  WORKS 

WEST  AMERICAN  SERIES  OF  HISTORIES 

LITERARY  INDUSTRIES 

THE  BOOK  OF  THE  FAIR 

THE  BOOK  OF  WEALTH 

THE  NEW  PACIFIC 

POPULAR  HISTORY  OF  MEXICO 

RETROSPECTION 


An  uHhth  ti^npUr  to 


BY 

HUBERT  HOWE  BANCROFT 


NEW  YORK 

THE  BANCROFT  COMPANY.  PUBLISHERS 

1915 


3U. 
^%^ 


An  nhhth  rliajrtrr  to  "Uptroapprtinn" 
Sg  ?^ubrrt  i^ouif  Sanrroft 


MODERN  FALLACIES 


PROLOGUE;    SATAN,    SOLUS 


44^0!     Is  it 
^N    tail  with 


so,  my  children"? — and  he  smiled,  plying  his 
with  complacency.  "Is  it  thus  I  find  you  amusing 
yourselves  as  Moses  found  his  people  on  coming  down 
from  the  Mount? — only  I  see  nothing  in  your  gambolings  quite 
so  rational  as  making  for  yourselves  a  golden  calf  to  worship. 
A  somewhat  freer  indulgence  in  blood-lust  and  malevolence  than 
the  occasion  calls  for,  is  it  not?  Christian  Europe,  in  the  most 
humane  age  of  the  world  dehumanized,  imbruted,  all  ablaze 
in  a  frenzy  of  wrath,  your  songs  of  happiness  turned  to  hymns 
of  hate,  and  this,  four  thousand  years  from  Abraham,  two  thou- 
sand years  from  Christ.  An  advance  in  moral  uprightness  and 
refinement,  truly! — though  seemingly  a  profitless  industry  breed- 
ing men  for  manure.  I  am  surprised, — and  pleased,  though  I 
take  shame  in  that  I  have  no  entertainment  to  offer  you  sur- 
passing this. 

"Or  is  it  only  an  infernal  festival  I  see,  a  celebration  per- 
chance of  your  vaunted  civilization,  your  worshipful  Christianity? 
Kindly  interpret  to  me  these  terms,  for  in  their  signification  I 
can  discern  nothing  more  than  a  thin  veneer  of  culture  and 
courtesy  over  raw  human  nature  as  exemplified  in  your  illus- 
trious predecessor  Cain;  the  one,  the  evolution  of  the  ages,  the 
unfolding  of  intellect  along  lines  always  significant  of  its  origin; 
the  other  a  blind  following  of  ancient  fantasies  the  effluvia  of 
ignorance  and  superstition. 

"For  you  say,  'Ever  the  best  remains,'  'The  purest  only  to  be 
permanent.'  Wherefore  after  these  many  several  centuries  of 
effort  and  endurance  we  have  before  us  in  this  highly  intellectual 
and  refined  performance  a  specimen  of  your  best  and  purest. 

"  'Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law,'  saith  the  scriptures. 
Behold  how  these  Christians  love  one  another! 


/^OfS^.^/S 


RETROSPECTION 


"Again,  'By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them.'  This,  then, 
that  I  see,  is  the  fruitage  of  Christ's  ministrations  among  you; 
this  the  application  of  his  divine  teachings  to  your  daily  lives. 
I  seem  to  remember  in  times  past  something  of  discordant 
doings  among  the  elect  resulting  in  many  battles  and  butcheries, 
Christians  killing  Christians  for  opinion's  sake.  Christians  killing 
pagans  for  Christ's  sake,  proselyting  and  purifying  with  fire 
and  sword,  not  to  mention  inquisitions,  autos-da-fe,  torture  cham- 
bers, Bartholomew  massacres,  and  a  thousand  other  crimes  com- 
mitted in  the  name  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus. 

"But  all  such  ways  of  winning  heaven  pale  before  this  mag- 
nificent ditch-work;  before  these  braying  mortars  that  so  bravely 
level  forts  and  tear  to  shreds  beautiful  cities,  mingling  with  the 
broken  work  of  art  the  mangled  remains  of  the  unoffending 
inhabitants;  before  your  vikings  of  the  air  dropping  destruction 
on  the  mothers  and  babes  of  peaceful  homes;  before  your  battle- 
ships coasting  stealthily  for  some  unprotected  health  or  pleasure 
place;  before  your  terrible  under-water  engines  hurling  to  hades 
a  thousand  souls  at  a  single  blast. 

"Great  days  these  of  electrical  industries,  of  iron  and  oil 
creations,  of  ever  yet  more  powerful  explosives,  of  ever  yet 
more  efficient  death-dealing  machinery;  and  now  that  all  these 
good  things  might  not  run  to  waste  the  demons  of  Christian 
civilization  are  let  loose  and  all  Europe  goes  off  in  an  ecstasy 
of  mutual   slaughter. 

"Founded  on  superstition  and  militancy,  which  find  expres- 
sion not  in  the  teachings  of  the  sacred  books  but  in  the  base 
passions  of  rulers,  religion  becomes  a  factor  in  the  origin  and 
continuance  of  the  war.  Statesmen,  diplomats,  learned  profes- 
sors who  chop  logic  to  make  the  worse  appear  the  better  part; 
preachers  who  blaspheme  from  the  pulpit,  and  prayer-mongers 
who  call  on  God  to  help  his  only  true  and  chosen  people  in  their 
ferocious  doings,  the  quality  of  their  petitions  explained  and 
emphasized  by  these  orgies  of  human  butchery,  by  this  outbreak 
of  piety  in  vindictive  passion, — a  new  demonstration  in  love  and 
charity  perchance,  the  love  of  bloodshed  and  the  charity  that 
turns  from  widow's  wails  and  orphan's  cries.  Me,  I  would  not 
to  people  my  kingdom  resort  to  such  sophistries.  I  hold  to 
scorn  these  profane  babblings  that  find  expression  in  cruelty, 
treachery,  revenge,  loss  of  integrity,  loss  of  honor,  in  robbery, 
rape  and  rank  injustice,  the  fruits  by  which  we  are  to  know  the 
bright  road  of  progress  and   kaiser  kultur. 


MODERN    FALLACIES 

"Ah!  it  is  progress  indeed,  such  progress  that  another 
thousand  years  of  it  will  make  of  this  earth  a  hell  so  hot  that 
my  abode  beside  it  will  be  as  the  hall  of  Valhalla  or  the  garden 
of  the  Hesperides.  Wherefore  I  Beelzebub,  king  of  kings,  salute 
thee,  William,  king  of  Germany! 

"Admit  then,  beloved,  that  the  devil  is  not  so  black  as  he 
is  painted,  that  he  alone  in  a  world  of  mummery,  lying,  self- 
deception,  and  hypocrisy  dare  speak  the  truth.  Go  to,  then,  I, 
Lucifer,  star  of  the  morning,  will  prate  and  pray  with  you  in  all 
honesty  and  sincerity.  Listen.  Let  us  pray.  Let  us  all  pray, 
of  whatsoever  name  or  nation,  help  us  Oh  Lord!  to  kill;  help  us 
to  kill.  Listen  not  to  our  adversaries.  Curse  them,  good  Lord, 
curse  them;  confound  their  politics,  frustrate  their  knavish 
tricks.  Art  not  thou  Oh  God!  a  God  of  war,  and  is  not  thy 
church  a  church  militant?  Then  help  us  Oh  God!  only  us  thy 
servants,  to  kill,  help  us  to  kill.  Give  us  peace  in  thine  own  time, 
good  Lord,  peace  with  mastery,  only  with  mastery,  remember, 
good  Lord.     Help  us  to  kill,  Oh  Lord!  to  kill. 

"How  perfectly  ethical  and  logical  is  prayer! 

"  'The  churches  are  impotent,'  your  wiseacres  say.  Cer- 
tainly, any  one  can  see  that.  'Christianity  is  impotent.'  How  do 
you  know;  has  it  ever  been  tried?  'Prayer  is  impotent.'  Then 
why  insult  high  heaven  with  the  trash  you  offer  it,  knowing 
nothing,  believing  nothing,  expecting  nothing.  And  as  for  the 
prayers  of  belligerents,  it  makes  us  smile  down  our  way,  so 
tangled  they  become  ere  reaching  the  throne  of  grace. 

"  'It  repenteth  me  that  I  made  man,'  saith  the  Lord.  Where- 
fore ye  who  preach  and  pray  for  lucre,  not  for  souls,  who  teach 
God  his  duty,  telling  him  so  much  he  never  knew  before,  were 
it  not  well  to  mention  his  mistake  about  the  Ark,  in  saving 
any  one  when  drowning  the  world  in  water;  a  mistake  which 
may  now  be  rectified  in  drowning  the  world  in  blood,  and  this 
time  make  a  clean  sweep  of  it,  for  is  not  the  kaiser  the  son  of 
Noah?  Then,  further,  were  it  not  well  to  devise  some  other 
means  for  the  betterment  of  mankind  than  drowning  the  people 
he  has  made,  whether  in  water  or  blood?  Were  it  not  as  well 
to  abolish  the  Hague,  burn  your  peace-temples,  leave  inane 
prayers  and  prating  to  women  and  fanatics,  and  get  at  something 
sensible? 

"  'God  save  the  king!'  I  hear  you  cry;  or  if  of  Britain  you 
say  God  save  our  excuse  for  a  king.  Why  is  this,  why  do  you 
want  God  to  save  your  king?     Is  it  because  he  assumes  supe- 


RETROSPECTION 

riority,  claims  divine  rulership  inherited  from  some  medieval 
pirate  or  cutthiroat  baron?  Is  it  because  he  imposes  upon  you 
unjust  burdens,  malces  traffic  of  womanhood,  harnesses  you  to 
crime,  forcing  you  to  commit  any  iniquity  his  passions  may 
dictate? 

"Go  to,  poor  mites  of  humanity,  crawling  about  on  this  little 
lump  of  earth,  your  necks  under  the  iron  heel  of  despot  rulers. 
Of  what  use  to  you  are  kings,  pygmies  under  high  heaven 
strutting  their  brief  lives  away,  presently  to  rot  like  the  rest, 
yet  whom  you  follow  like  sheep  to  the  shambles.  Of  what 
benefit  to  the  world  are  the  royal  drones,  the  vagrant  nobility, 
the  large  idle  class  that  scorn  work  but  scorn  not  to  live  on  the 
work  of  others,  and  which  you  are  forced  to  support,  besides  the 
burdens  of  war,  religion,  and  crime?  I  fain  would  wish  you  a 
better  fate.  Do  you  not  know  that  all  cultures  and  cults  grow 
rank  with  age  and  die;  do  you  not  see  that  your  progress  is 
downward  as  well  as  upward,  your  wars  a  crime,  your  religion  a 
hollow  mockery  which  is  always  harking  back  to  the  paganism 
of  ancient  Egypt  and  Rome,  while  the  star  of  destiny  is  ever 
more  radiant  in  the  west,  new  light  even  now  breaking  forth 
over  the  vast  amphitheatre  of  the  Pacific  with  every  sign  of 
promise  for  the  great  and  final  development. 

"Enough.  If  you  are  content  to  remain  thus,  even  as  I  see 
you  now,  compelled  by  your  gracious  sovereign  to  crawl  in 
ditches  on  your  bellies  and  shoot  men  down  as  he  shall  direct, 
men  you  do  not  know  and  with  whom  you  have  no  variance,  so 
do.  If  not,  come  with  me  to  a  higher,  happier  hell  where  wicked- 
ness may  be  enjoyed  with  some  degree  of  common  sense  and 
decency." 

With  the  first  flush  of  amazement,  the  first  wave  of 
horror  that  swept  over  America  on  the  breaking  out  of  hos- 
tilities in  Europe  came  sincere  sorrow  and  sympathy  for 
those  about  to  suffer,  for  those  about  to  die.  The  pity  of  it ! 
Physical  endurance  beyond  compare,  and  mental  distress; 
then  the  loss  to  humanity,  the  blow  to  faith  and  progress, 
the  blow  to  society,  to  intellectual  advancement  and  esthetic 
culture,  reform  rolled  back,  Christianity  made  contempt- 
ible, the  return  to  brute  force  and  beastliness,  all  showing 
how  thin  the  coating  of  civilization  and  religion  that  covers 


MODERN    FALLACIES 

our  earthly  natures.  Soon,  however,  and  subconsciously 
swept  in  upon  us  a  sense  of  satisfaction  with  our  better  lot, 
and  finally  speculation  as  to  how  we  might  profit  by  the 
situation. 

The  popular  idea  seemed  to  be  that  prosperity,  as  the 
gentle  rain  from  heaven,  was  to  fall  on  all  alike,  without 
effort  on  the  part  of  any ;  but  when  the  hard  times  following 
the  new  tariff  continued,  and  to  the  income  tax  was  added 
another  by  courtesy  called  a  war  tax,  but  in  reality  a  tax 
made  necessary  by  our  invasion  of  Mexico  and  other  inju- 
dicious acts,  it  appeared  that  the  alleged  prosperity  was  not 
to  be  immediate  and  universal. 

Conditions  were  imposed.  The  south  could  not  sell  its 
cotton,  so  that  there  was  no  prosperity  there.  Exporters 
of  raw  material  in  the  north  were  likewise  in  a  quandary. 
New  York  was  deep  in  financial  problems,  and  closed  the 
Stock  Exchange  to  avoid  panic.  Chicago  and  the  middle 
west  were  the  best  off  of  any,  having  food  products  and 
manufactured  articles  to  sell.  San  Francisco  and  the 
Pacific  coast  soon  shipped  away  the  limited  supply  of  fruit 
and  grain,  leaving  ample  time  for  the  mind  to  dwell  on  the 
benefits  of  the  Panama  canal  and  the  glories  of  the  two 
expositions.  So  passed  away  the  first  months  of  the  Euro- 
pean war  with  little  appearance  of  great  immediate  profit 
to  America. 

Entering  the  second  half  year  of  the  war,  times  grew 
worse  rather  than  better.  The  industrial  world  was  par- 
alyzed. Men  of  affairs  in  an  atmosphere  of  financial  unrest, 
everywhere  frenzied  fighting,  wars  of  uncertain  duration, 
were  afraid  to  move  lest  they  should  make  a  mistake.  Ocean 
transportation  was  perilous,  and  dealings  with  the  warring 
nations  difficult.  The  earthquake  in  Italy  added  to  the 
horrors  of  famine  in  Poland  and  Belgium,  and  among  the 
early  movements  of  ocean-going  craft,  following  the  first 
ravages  of  the  war,  were  relief  shipments  to  those  coun- 


RETROSPECTION 

tries.  Adding  to  the  general  embarrassment  were  the 
blockades  declared  by  the  belligerents  one  against  the  other, 
the  war  zone  thrown  around  the  British  isles  supported  by- 
German  mines  while  England  placed  chief  dependence  on 
her  fleet. 

But  whether  or  not  fighting  continued,  the  world  must 
be  fed  and  clothed,  and  for  supplies  all  eyes  were  turned 
toward  America;  so  that  later  woolen  clothing,  cotton  knit 
goods,  leather  and  rubber  boots  and  shoes,  harness  and 
saddles,  motor  cars,  and  metal-working  machinery  began 
to  move  across  the  water  at  the  rate  of  five  or  six  millions 
of  dollars  a  day  taking  the  place  of  raw  material  exports, 
which  for  the  United  States  was  the  beginning  of  a  new 
prosperity,  exports  exceeding  imports  for  a  time  at  the 
rate  of  a  billion  dollars  a  year.  Soon  we  were  making  cloth 
such  as  England  formerly  made ;  we  took  from  Bavaria  to 
some  extent  the  toy  and  machine  industries,  from  France 
wines  and  women's  wear,  and  so  on.  Alien  immigration, 
however,  of  which  a  large  increase  was  expected,  fell  off 
from  the  average  of  previous  years  seventy-five  per  cent. 

Great  Britain  made  an  effort  to  capture  some  of  the 
German  trade,  publishing  a  monthly  magazine  entitled 
Made  in  England,  but  little  came  of  it.  There  was  little 
production  in  France  other  than  agricultural.  The  famine 
scare  increased  sweeping  over  the  world.  Appeals  for 
bread  came  in  from  every  quarter,  from  Belgium,  Poland, 
Servia,  Palestine,  Montenegro,  Mexico,  Samoa,  and  else- 
where, while  England  and  Germany  were  trying  to  starve 
each  other  out.  Even  the  United  States  talked  of  placing 
an  embargo  on  wheat.  Yet  at  that  moment  it  was  only 
America  between  Belgium  and  starvation. 

As  time  passed  by  it  became  more  and  more  apparent 
that  the  effect  of  the  war  on  the  United  States  as  a  whole 
would  not  prove  beneficial  for  some  time  to  come,  if  at  all. 


MODERN    FALLACIES 

We  saw  also  that  it  was  not  a  war  of  peoples  but  of  rulers, 
who  filled  with  malignity  stood  aside  in  places  of  safety 
while  prodding  on  their  soldiers  in  the  trenches,  with  little 
hate  in  their  hearts,  to  kill,  they  knew  not  why;  and  that 
at  the  bottom  of  it  was  militarism,  which  means  applied 
machinery  for  the  slaughter  of  men,  just  as  Chicago  has 
applied  machinery  for  the  slaughter  of  cattle.  We  saw 
that  it  was  not  a  European  war  alone,  but  a  world  war,  one 
in  which  sooner  or  later  Asia  and  America  would  have 
their  part  to  play.  It  was  not  a  passing  freak  of  the 
Almighty  at  the  hand  of  his  chosen  rulers,  but  a  regular 
old-fashioned  raid  for  blood  and  plunder,  for  loot  and 
land,  attended  by  the  usual  medieval  outrages;  this  for 
Germany,  while  for  England  and  France  it  signified  in 
case  of  defeat  denationalization.  All  the  same  they  were 
rather  slow  in  coming  to  the  assistance  of  Belgium  who 
interposed  her  body  to  check  the  avalanche.  England  is 
not  quick  to  do  for  herself  what  another  will  do  for  her. 
She  does  not  deal  in  sentiment ;  she  does  not  scorn  to  reap 
where  others  have  sown ;  yet  being  in  for  this  war,  which 
to  her  is  life  or  death,  she  will  fight  it  out  thoroughly  and 
to  a  finish. 

Fortunately  neither  prayers  for  peace  nor  friendly  in- 
terposition succeeded  in  terminating  the  war  in  Europe. 
Did  ever  anyone  expect  it?  The  worst  that  could  befall 
would  be  to  establish  peace  before  certain  issues  were 
determined,  without  which  settlement  all  fhe  blood  and 
treasure  thus  far  spent  were  worse  than  thrown  away.  It 
is  only  ignorance  of  conditions  and  shallow  self-flattery  that 
cause  the  occasional  outburst  of  simple  souls  in  wide-spread 
prayer  and  inane  peace  proposals. 

The  contending  forces  had  as  yet  reached  no  stopping 
place.  For  though  ages  may  intervene,  the  full  fruitage  of 
this  conflict  will  not  appear  until  kings,  royalties,  and  titled 
nobility  with  hereditary  rulership  are  abolished,  Prussian 


RETROSPECTION 

militarism  exterminated,  and  infamous  episodes  like  the 
present  war  made  impossible. 

Prussian  militarism ;  what  is  it  ?  Rightly  it  has  been 
called  a  system  without  a  soul ;  a  state  that  is  a  distinct 
entity,  without  moral  sense  or  obligation;  a  nation  that  is 
an  army  and  an  army  that  is  a  nation ;  a  force  for  aggres- 
sion, not  for  defense ;  a  huge  machine  for  crushing  peoples, 
into  whose  wheels  men  for  cogs  are  fitted,  the  emperor  of 
Germany  at  the  engine  and  diplomats  and  professors  at  the 
furnace. 

During  the  brief  period  since  this  w^ar  began  our  eyes 
have  been  opened  to  evils  threatening  interests  vital  to  the 
human  race.  We  see  the  rulers  of  great  nations,  among 
the  foremost  in  intellect  and  culture,  giving  themselves  up 
more  than  ever  before  to  the  science  and  art  of  human 
slaughter,  cavalierly  relegating  in  time  of  war,  honor,  hon- 
esty, integrity,  and  humanity  to  the  plea  of  necessity.  To 
this  end  the  whole  country  is  laid  under  contribution.  To 
this  end  the  boy  is  trained  and  the  man  must  respond.  To 
this  end  the  rulers,  divine  or  devilish,  lay  heavy  burdens 
upon  the  people  and  drive  them  to  their  death  at  pleasure. 
What  matters  it  to  the  master,  a  few  more  millions  slain, 
a  few  more  millions  starved,  the  wrecking  of  a  few  more 
cities,  the  laying  waste  of  a  few  more  provinces,  prosperous 
towns  reduced  to  a  memory ;  it 's  all  in  the  day 's  work,  and 
necessary. 

Every  male  infant  born  of  a  German  mother,  to  become 
a  German  subject,  enters  the  world  a  bondsman,  as  part 
of  a  mechanism  whose  purpose  and  practice  is  the  killing 
of  human  beings.  From  this  thraldom  there  is  no  escape 
save  through  the  gates  of  death.  At  the  proper  age  and 
time,  boy  or  man,  the  victim  is  placed  before  others  like 
himself,  and  all  driven  on  to  slaughter.  It  is  a  slavery  of 
the  soul.  Doomed  to  the  shambles  from  childhood  by  a 
rulership  purporting  to  be  of  divine  origin  and  agency,  and 

8 


MODERN    FALLACIES 

sustained  by  learned  professors  trained  in  the  same  school 
and  bound  to  promulgate  the  same  doctrine,  there  is  no 
crime  the  ruler  may  choose  to  impose  that  the  subject  can 
refuse  to  commit.  Obviously  the  nation  or  nations  that 
follow  this  system  and  handle  such  machinery  can  dominate 
those  that  do  not ;  in  a  word  can  rule  the  world  as  it  now 
stands.  This  compels  others,  Americans  as  well  as  Euro- 
peans, to  adopt  the  same  method  or  go  out  of  business, 
which  means  a  return  to  feudalism.  It  is  therefore  life  or 
death,  the  total  eradication  of  German  militarism  from  the 
face  of  the  earth. 

A  century  ago  the  French  emperor  made  himself  auto- 
crat of  Europe ;  his  methods  were  bad  enough,  but  not  so 
infamous  as  are  those  of  the  German  emperor  today,  yet 
England  and  Germany  rose  and  drove  Napoleon  out. 
Better  America  should  join  the  allies  than  that  the  world 
should  continue  as  shambles  with  the  science  and  art  of 
killing  men  as  the  chief  industry.  As  scourge  of  the  world 
the  German  William  is  worse  than  was  ever  any  French 
Napoleon  or  Spanish  Philip.  With  this  sort  of  absolutism 
in  vogue  in  Europe,  a  peace-at-any-price  people  in  any  part 
of  the  world  would  be  among  the  first  to  suffer.  A  good 
supply  of  battleships,  submarines,  and  air  ships  are  the  best 
argument  in  diplomatic  circles. 

The  claim  of  a  divine  right  of  one  man  to  rule  over 
others,  it  is  needless  here  to  say,  is  an  insult  to  human 
intelligence.  The  forcing  of  men  to  fight  like  wild  beasts 
or  gladiators  in  the  arena  is  a  form  of  fiendishness  worthy 
of  a  Roman  Nero  or  a  Russian  Peter;  the  maintenance  of 
men  and  machinery  for  inroads  upon  neighboring  nations 
and  the  butchery  of  the  innocent  inhabitants  is  a  crime 
worthy  of  a  German  William,  and  exceeding  all  other 
crimes.  Few  realized  until  they  saw  its  horrible  devourings 
what  a  monster  high  civilization  was  harboring.    The  only 


RETROSPECTION 

hope  for  the  extinction  of  militarism  and  a  long  period  of 
peace  is  in  the  iinal  triumph  of  the  triple  entente. 

The  cause  of  the  war  and  by  whom  originated  were 
topics  of  controversy  at  first,  each  laying  the  blame  upon 
the  other;  but  the  matter  was  soon  dropped  as  of  small 
moment  beside  the  awful  realities  that  followed.  The 
causes  in  due  time  appeared,  and  so  plainly  marked  that 
few  found  difiSculty  in  reaching  proper  conclusions  despite 
the  false  reasoning  and  absurd  deductions  made  by  profes- 
sors and  rulers.  Preparedness,  with  kultur  and  divine 
kingship  as  a  basic  element;  add  commercial  jealousy  and 
elemental  hate  and  we  have  not  long  to  await  spontaneous 
combustion. 

Germany,  militarized  by  forty  years  of  study,  invention, 
and  drill,  with  the  largest  army  and  the  most  perfect  mili- 
tary machinery  which  had  yet  been  seen,  took  the  field 
under  the  banner  of  reinforced  barbarism,  hastening  the 
attack  before  the  other  belligerents  were  fairly  awake  to 
the  situation  in  the  expectation  of  the  immediate  capture 
of  Paris,  which  would  have  been  accomplished  but  for  the 
intervention  of  brave  little  Belgium. 

Von  Bernhardi  outlined  in  his  book  three  years  before 
the  war,  as  is  well  known,  the  course  which  afterward  was 
followed,  openly  discussing  the  policy  of  a  world  empire. 
With  refreshing  candor  the  kaiser  claims  that  as  vicegerent 
of  the  Almighty  and  divinely  appointed  dominator  of  the 
world,  with  a  kultur  which  to  have  means  deep  conscience 
and  high  morale,  he  is  not  bound  by  ordinary  laws  or  per- 
sonal pledges,  for  he  alone  can  truly  translate  humanism. 
It  is  idle  for  professors  to  pretend  that  the  kaiser  and  his 
cohorts  did  not  want  the  war. 

Because  Germany,  insincere  and  treacherous,  prepared 
for  it  long  and  strenuously,  applying  all  the  genius  of  art 
and  industry  to  the  construction  of  death-dealing  imple- 
ments; because  she  plainly  declared  her  purpose  before- 

10 


.MODEKN    FALLACIES 

hand  first  to  dominate  Europe,  tlien  Asia  and  America  ; 
because  from  the  beginning  she  everywhere  assumed  the 
offensive,  springing  the  conliict  suddenly  upon  the  uni)re- 
pared,  breaking  treaties,  forfeiting  honor,  treating  with 
barbarous  cruelty  and  injustice  unoffending  peoples;  and 
because  of  her  ability  at  any  time  to  have  prevented  or 
terminated  hostilities,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  odium  of  the 
l)loodiest  and  most  senseless  of  wars  that  ever  disgraced 
the  name  of  man  will  rest  with  the  present  rulers  of  Ger- 
many to  the  end  of  time.  The  crime  of  Belgium,  alone  an 
endless  shame ;  a  peaceful,  happy  land,  villainously  entered 
and  wantonly  destroyed,  then  after  seizing  for  them- 
selves the  food  supply,  and  imposing  exorbitant  ransom 
upon  the  despoiled  cities,  the  conquerors  turn  their  back 
upon  the  inhabitants  shivering  under  the  debris  of  their 
so  lately  happy  homes,  and  seven  millions  survivors,  old 
men,  women,  and  children  are  left  in  their  misery  with 
the  oncoming  winter  to  freeze,  and  starve,  and  die. 

We  have  been  taught  to  regard  Germany  as  the  pro- 
tector of  culture,  the  guardian  of  the  highest  civilization 
and  of  the  purest  religion,  a  barrier  to  the  inroads  of  the 
barbaric  IMuscovite;  but  when  we  see  the  rulers  of  Ger- 
many trampeling  under  foot  the  teachings  of  Christ, 
assuming  God's  place  and  prerogative  on  this  earth,  and 
the  professors  of  the  universities  defending  with  illogical 
verbiage  diabolical  cruelty  and  injustice,  we  say  open  the 
gates  and  let  the  Russians  in. 

The  day  will  come  perhaps  when  the  German  emperor 
will  be  pleased  to  talk  peace  and  peace  conditions.  Who 
then  will  listen  1  Of  what  worth  the  word  of  one  dis- 
honored, forsworn?  Of  what  value  the  promise  of  one 
who  openly  declares  himself  void  of  truthfulness,  void  of 
integrity,  his  treaty  w'orthless,  his  bond  waste  paper?  A 
nation  outlawed,  perjured,  why  waste  time  concocting 
terms  with   such  an  one?     Necessity  knows  no  law,  the 


RETROSPECTION 

kaiser  alone  being  judge  of  what  is  necessary.  War  is  a 
necessity  whenever  the  kaiser  chooses  so  to  declare  it. 
War  knows  no  law;  the  kaiser  knows  no  law;  yet  while 
breaking  laws  and  treaties  ad  libitum  Germany  protests 
loudly  against  the  breaking  of  international  laws  by  others. 

When  a  country  outlaws  itself  under  the  plea  of  neces- 
sity, concrete  acts  of  infamy  upheld  by  the  German  chan- 
cellor and  sustained  by  the  German  war  book — how  make 
honorable  compacts  with  a  state  outlawed? 

And  what  would  be  the  effect  on  the  world  were  the 
kaiser's  high  code  of  ethics  allowed  a  free  course?  Already 
foxy  Japan  talks  of  not  only  repudiating  her  promises  of 
restoration  to  China  of  the  late  conquests  on  her  border 
from  the  Germans,  but  is  making  further  extortionate  de- 
mands hitherto  little  thought  of.  For  is  not  the  Mikado 
likewise  divine,  Buddha  incarnate,  and  can  he  not  interpret 
the  word  necessity  as  well  as  any  German  potentate  when- 
ever he  wishes  further  lootings  in  China  ?  And  that  is  all 
the  time;  indeed,  Japan  would  not  object  to  taking  over 
all  of  China,  and  may  find  it  one  day  "necessary"  to  do  so 
unless  Germany  gets  in  before  her.  It  is  a  dangerous  pre- 
cedent, and  a  fine  example  for  pagandom,  this  mixture  of 
lawless  ambition  with  fanaticism  and  the  divinity  craze,  the 
Teutonic  blood-lust  and  kultur-lust  with  inherited  rulership 
back  of  it  all. 

And  let  America  have  a  care  of  being  caught  napping. 
The  Asiatic  Frenchmen  are  a  polite  people,  but  when 
Nippon  protests  too  much  then  beware  of  Nippon.  Should 
the  United  States  become  seriously  involved  in  war  inade- 
quately armed,  Japan  will  doubtless  find  it  necessary  to  take 
over  the  Philippines,  and  complete  her  occupation  of  the 
Hawaiian  islands,  already  well  begun.  And  alas  and  alack 
for  the  little  Nipponese  when  the  fierce  Teutons  reach  the 
day  of  reckoning!     For  it  will  then  be  found  necessary 

12 


MODERN    FALLACIES 

to  break  any  terms  of  peace  which  meantime  may  have  been 
made,  while  due  chastisement  is  inflicted. 

The  kaiser  and  his  sycophants  are  so  obsessed  by  a 
sense  of  their  superiority,  claiming  for  their  august  chief 
special  privileges  from  heaven  by  which  Germany  is  fated 
to  universal  sovereignty,  that  their  mental  vision  becomes 
obscured,  preventing  them  from  seeing  far  beyond  the 
limits  of  their  horizon.  With  superb  egotism,  and  a  fanat- 
icism bordering  on  insanity,  they  openly  declare  their  mis- 
sion of  world  dominance,  of  which  these  present  wars  are 
the  initiative. 

And  the  kaiser,  though  suffering  from  his  superlative 
excellence  and  high  destiny  still  asserts  that  he  does  not 
want  to  be  king  of  the  world,  but  kultur  and  the  divinity 
that  doth  hedge  him  about  constraineth  him. 

With  brute  force,  and  brutishness,  enough  and  to 
spare,  the  Germans  have  accomplished  wonders,  but  the 
time  has  passed  when  brute  force  can  hold  universal  sov- 
ereignty, and  Germany  lacks  moral  force,  lacks  even  a 
moral  sense,  notwithstanding  the  kaiser's  asseverations, 
while  denying  any  purpose  of  founding  a  world  empire, 
that  in  the  kultur,  "the  deep  conscience,  industry,  and 
high  morale  of  the  German  people,  is  to  be  found  a  con- 
quering power  that  will  open  the  world  for  them". 

Germany  assumes  omnipotence,  but  despotism  is  no 
proof  of  omnipotence.  Germany  would  rule  the  world 
while  practising  violence,  but  the  time  is  past  when  the 
world  can  be  governed  by  violence.  More  moral  force 
with  less  physical  force  would  serve  the  purpose  better. 

Von  Bernhardi  and  the  emperor  of  course  deny  any 
intention  of  world  empire,  but  who  would  trust  them? 
Who  could  tell  what  necessities  might  arise,  what  militar- 
ism might  demand,  or  to  what  measures  preparedness  and 
power  might  tempt  them?  Of  what  worth  is  the  pledged 
word  or  the  written  obligation  of  men  whose  boast  is  that 

13 


RETROSPECTION 

their  will  is  superior  to  law,  that  any  treaty  they  may 
choose  to  break  is  waste  paper? 

The  deep  conscience  and  high  morale  of  the  German 
people  were  manifest  in  their  public  rejoicing  over  the 
achievements  of  the  German  admiral  who  sailed  along  the 
English  coast  firing  on  defenceless  women  and  children; 
and  after  devastating  Belgium  how  fine  the  chivalry  dis- 
played by  the  indifference  of  the  raiders  to  the  misery  they 
had  caused,  not  to  mention  the  order  forbidding  the  rescue 
of  drowning  seamen  blown  to  destruction  by  their  sub- 
marines ! 

The  limit  of  sanity,  however,  is  reached  when  Professor 
Eucken  presents  the  ideal  of  the  fatherland  as  a  spiritual 
entity,  wherein  he  discerns  loftier  manifestations  since  the 
war  began,  notably  in  the  manly  methods  of  ditch-work 
warfare,  so  superior  to  that  of  the  cowardly  forest  savages 
shooting  from  behind  trees,  and  in  the  admirable  behavior 
of  the  new  machinery  employed  in  devastating  Belgium 
by  the  kaiser,  whose  ideals  of  Teutonic  kultur  and  the 
destiny  of  his  people  soar  yet  higher  as  he  battles  for  the 
deliverance  of  the  world. 

In  this  new  idealism  there  is  no  selfishness,  no  lust  for 
loot  or  land,  no  thirst  for  power  or  revenge;  all  men  of 
all  nations,  friends  and  foes  alike  shall  share  it, — all  that 
is  left  of  them  after  this  carnival  of  slaughter  is  over.  As 
an  excuse  for  this  war  Professor  Eucken,  like  the  others, 
pleads  necessity,  a  joyous  necessity  as  he  declares,  resulting 
in  a  transformation  of  soul.  Vaterland  spiritualized  by 
the  new  kultur,  a  cognate  people  from  inner  coherence 
made  fit  for  the  new  earth  and  the  new  heaven  prepared 
for  them. 

Even  though  to  ears  attuned  this  does  not  sound  like 
Teutonic  rot,  yet  it  were  quite  as  well  never  to  put  it  into 
English.  We  have  only  to  turn  to  Belgium  for  a  specimen 
of  kaiser  love  and  kultur  discipline  which  we  can  easily 

14 


MODERN    FALLACIES 

understand;  or  if  we  prefer  peace  at  any  price  we  have 
only,  like  Luxembourg,  humbly  to  submit  and  our  lives 
may  be  spared  and  our  cities  escape  destruction. 

As  the  world's  war  lord,  with  the  world  before  him 
and  the  Prussia  that  Bismarck  and  von  Moltke  had  made 
for  him  at  his  back,  his  people  meanwhile  confident  in  his 
infallibility,  there  is  little  wonder  that  the  emperor  William, 
still  human  though  not  knowing  it,  might  sometimes  over- 
reach himself,  as  when  he  reckoned  too  confidently  and 
risked  too  much  on  Italy  to  complete  his  triple  alliance, 
and  on  a  subservient  Belgium  and  an  inactive  England, 
later  to  find  himself  unable  to  move  backward  or  forward, 
but  only  to  stand  and  see  his  brilliant  anticipations  fall  in 
ruins  about  him. 

An  age  of  gold  succeeding  an  age  of  iron,  then  back  to 
brute  force  again  until  the  universe  grows  hazy,  and  the 
source  of  power, — does  it  come  from  the  skies  or  is  it 
found  in  the  fruitful  fields  of  pacific  peoples? 

Rising  unrefreshed  and  unenlightened  from  the  un- 
fathomable depths  of  Kantian  philosophy  to  the  more  open 
plain  of  Neitzsche,  on  which  the  present  war  propaganda 
was  planted  by  Treitschke  and  Bernhardi,  placing  power 
before  humanity  and  courage  before  charity,  and  over- 
whelmed by  superfluous  strength  and  mental  faculties  ab- 
normally active  in  making  men  and  machinery  for  death- 
dealing  purposes,  perhaps  the  most  charitable  construction 
we  can  place  on  the  course  of  the  Germans,  their  ethics 
and  their  abnormities,  in  the  prosecution  of  this  war  would 
be  to  credit  the  rulers  and  professors  with  some  slight 
mental  aberration.  At  all  events  the  Teutonic  quality  of 
mind  and  morals,  of  evolution  and  progress,  expressed  in 
the  word  kultur,  however  regarded  in  Germany,  would 
among  the  thoughtful  people  of  America  be  called  if  not 
vicious  at  least  delirious.  We  could  not  imagine,  for  ex- 
ample, a  man  in  his  right  mind,  as  is  told  of  the  emperor, 

15 


RETROSPECTION 

wondering  why  the  United  States  does  not  capture  Canada, 
now  that  the  opportunity  offers!  "World  power  or  noth- 
ing!" is  the  pretentious  cry  of  Gei-man  arrogance.  Then 
let  it  be  nothing. 

That  Germany  will  ever  realize  her  dreams  of  universal 
empire  is  unthinkable.  Then,  if  that  is  so,  it  is  equally 
impossible  for  her  to  come  victorious  out  of  this  war,  for 
the  one  implies  the  other.  It  requires  no  prophet  to  see 
that  this  Prussian  craze  has  got  to  be  crushed,  and  will  be 
though  it  should  take  ten  or  twenty  years  for  its  accomplish- 
ment. Not  that  the  destruction  or  dismemberment  of 
Germany,  a  fate  such  as  she  would  inflict  upon  others, 
must  follow,  but  that  Prussian  militarism  must  be  utterly 
uprooted  as  a  social  and  political  cancer. 

Of  the  divine  mission,  the  right  of  inherited  rulership, 
the  alleged  vicegerency  of  Almighty  God,  and  the  boasted 
kultur,  deep  conscience,  and  high  morale  of  "William,  em- 
peror of  Germany,  the  story  of  this  war  will  ever  stand  as 
a  bright  example.  And  for  his  epitaph  let  it  be  written. 
He  murdered  some  millions  of  men  and  women  and  chil- 
dren; he  also  murdered  national  honor,  civil  rights  and 
humaneness. 

Thus  far  America  has  profited  but  little  from  the  world 's 
wars,  but  has  suffered  loss  and  disturbance.  The  tide  will 
turn,  however,  in  time,  for  the  country  at  large  perhaps 
in  one  or, two  years;  for  California  it  may  be  in  five  or 
fifty  years.  For  we  may  be  sure  that  the  great  ocean  was 
made  for  some  important  purpose,  and  the  planting  of  its 
shores  with  inexhaustible  wealth  was  for  the  furtherance 
of  that  purpose.  It  is  equally  certain  that  around  the 
waters  of  San  Francisco  bay  will  one  day  appear  a  World 
Centre  of  Industry,  its  advent  soon  it  is  possible,  but  more 
likely  not  until  the  present  generation  has  passed  away 
and  another  quality  of  maiihood  appears.     For  we  know 

16 


MODERN    FALLACIES 

that  ever  the  star  of  empire  has  been  westward,  and  that 
the  ultimate  west  having  been  attained,  here  the  star  rests ; 
but  still  it  shines,  for  here  is  to  be  wrought  out  man's  full 
and  final  destiny. 

Already  the  world's  financial  centre  has  moved  from 
London  to  New  York.  Already  a  midcontinent  world 
centre  of  industry  is  seen  at  and  around  Chicago,  whose 
boast  is  the  largest  output  of  each  of  half  a  thousand  useful 
things,  and  whence  it  is  but  a  single  leap  to  San  Francisco 
bay  and  the  broadest  and  most  opulent  of  oceans.  Neither 
the  climate  nor  the  economic  advantages  of  this  favored 
spot  have  thus  far  been  fully  appreciated ;  let  us  hope  that 
the  many  thousands  who  come  hither  from  every  quarter 
to  view  the  Panama  canal  and  our  great  industrial  exposi- 
tions during  this  memorable  year  of  1915  may  see  things 
as  they  are  and  carry  away  true  and  proper  impressions 
thereof. 

While  the  Panama  canal  was  in  course  of  construction 
there  was  scarcely  a  sea  or  a  river  port  that  did  not  expect 
great  and  immediate  benefits  therefrom.  Some  were  dis- 
appointed. We  should  know  by  now  that  few  are  enriched 
without  effort  by  any  war,  exposition,  or  canal.  Many  places 
can  offer  some  special  advantage  for  commerce  and  manu- 
factures, but  there  is  no  place  that  offers  all  the  advantages 
for  a  World  Centre  of  Industry  equal  to  San  Francicso  bay. 

Centrally  situated  on  the  border  of  the  great  ocean, 
held  to  this  day  for  the  more  intelligent  exploitation  by 
civilized  man,  and  aggregating  with  its  prolific  shores  and 
enchanting  isles  a  coast  line  of  more  than  35,000  miles  in 
extent,  this  port  has  immediately  tributary  half  the  world, 
the  other  half  being  easily  reached  through  the  Panama 
canal.  Around  the  vast  amphitheatre  of  the  Pacific,  and 
extending  inland  hundreds  or  thousands  of  miles  are  metal- 
veined  mountains  and  alluvial  plains  which  have  as  yet  been 
scarcely  disturbed  by  the  hand  of  civilized  man. 


RETROSPECTION 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  under  the  snows  of  Alaska,  in  the 
great  mountain  ranges  that  stretch  thence  southward  to 
and  far  beyond  the  tropics,  and  in  the  fertile  soils  of  the 
more  habitable  parts,  whose  opulent  cities  bear  testimony 
to  their  natural  resources,  there  lies  more  uncovered  wealth 
than  has  yet  been  brought  to  light  by  all  the.  nations  of 
all  time. 

And  the  availability  of  it  all  at  our  industrial  centre, 
and  our  advantages  in  handling  it!  Cheap  electric  power 
from  the  Sierra,  oil  piped  from  the  wells  to  our  favored 
port,  cotton  from  the  Imperial  valley  and  all  the  way  to 
Texas,  wool  from  the  north,  wood  and  coal  from  the  coast 
beyond,  while  from  every  part  of  the  broad  Pacific  at 
moderate  cost,  say  from  three  to  five  dollars  a  ton,  raw 
material  of  every  sort,  all  animal  and  plant  products,  all 
minerals  and  metals  wrought  out  in  the  laboratories  of 
nature  during  the  countless  ages  of  the  earth's  existence, 
may  be  brought  to  San  Francisco  bay,  there  to  be  recreated 
by  arts  and  industries,  and  thence  distributed  throughout 
the  world  in  forms  best  befitting  the  use  of  man. 

Then  the  food  conditions  and  cost  of  living;  plenty  to 
eat  at  moderate  expense ;  house  rents  reasonable ;  healthful 
airs  filtering  through  the  snowy  mountains  and  swept  in 
from  the  sea;  no  malaria,  no  indigenous  diseases,  no  freez- 
ing cold  in  winter  nor  uncomfortable  heat  in  summer.  In- 
deed, the  climate  of  San  Francisco,  perfect  in  its  way, 
whether  as  an  industrial  asset  or  a  resort  for  health  and 
pleasure  is  just  beginning  to  receive  proper  recognition. 
To  delightful  surroundings  are  given  many  benefits, — cool 
bracing  air,  average  temperature  varying  between  55°  and 
70° ;  fewer  casualties  than  may  be  found  on  any  other  spot 
of  earth ;  no  slaying  by  sunstrokes  or  lightning ;  no  floods, 
cyclones,  or  blizzards;  and  as  for  the  earthquake  bugaboo, 
it  is  an  historical  fact  that  more  lives  have  been  lost  from 
heat  in  one  day  on  the  eastern  coast,  or  from  midcontinent 

18 


MODERN    FALLACIES 

river  overflows,  than  from  all  the  earthquakes  that  ever 
happened  in  California  of  which  there  is  any  record  or 
tradition,  be  it  for  a  thousand  years  back. 

The  bay  itself  is  a  matchless  body  of  water,  sixty  miles 
long  and  from  four  to  six  miles  wide,  and  beautiful  beyond 
description,  whether  in  the  purple  haze  of  early  morning 
or  glowing  under  a  noonday  sun.  The  several  large  islands, 
with  the  Presidio  reservation,  are  held  by  the  government 
for  soldier's  quarters  and  purposes  of  defense.  The  borders 
of  bay  and  islands,  with  indentations  and  tributary  straits 
and  rivers,  give  300  linear  miles  or  more  all  ready  for  fac- 
tories and  w^arehouses  with  ocean  vessels  on  one  side  and 
railway  trains  on  the  other.  All  the  leading  countries  of 
the  world  have,  or  will  have,  their  own  lines  of  steamships 
running  direct  to  San  Francisco,  lines  from  China,  Japan, 
Australia,  South  America,  and  from  Europe  through  the 
Panama  canal,  while  daily  scores  of  railway  trains  depart 
for  every  near  and  distant  point. 

Few  will  deny  that  manufactures  are  essential  to  the 
prosperity  of  a  nation,  that  never  was  a  country  perma- 
nently rich  without  manufactures  and  never  Avas  a  country 
permanently  poor  with  manufactures.  A  land  poor  from 
lack  of  natural  products  may  become  rich  by  utilizing  the 
products  of  other  lands  and  adding  to  their  value  by  in- 
telligent labor  and  distribution  to  parts  where  most  needed. 

Exports  and  imports  are  quoted  as  indicative  of  national 
prosperity.  Perhaps  less  of  each  would  be  better  if  home 
industry  were  stimulated  therelay.  It  is  the  export  of  manu- 
factured goods  that  indicates  permanent  prosperity,  not 
the  export  of  raw  material.  Therefore  the  first  advantage 
to  be  derived  by  the  Ignited  States  from  the  war  in  Europe 
is  in  checking  the  exportation  of  raw  material,  thus  com- 
pelling industrial  development  at  home.  It  is  only  of 
secondary  importance  that  the  markets  of  the  world  are 

19 


RETROSPECTION 

left  open  to  us  while  the  Europeans  are  busily  employed  in 
the  most  destructive  of  games, 

Spain  by  internal  development  became  the  greatest  of 
nations;  but  when  gold  began  to  flow  in  freely  from  the 
New  World  she  found  it  easier  to  buy  than  to  make ;  now 
look  at  her !  Therefore,  we  may  safely  say  that  those  who 
will  profit  most  by  the  European  war  are  not  the  growers 
of  cotton  nor  even  of  food  products,  but  those  who  make 
needful  articles  and  send  forth  competent  agents  to  open 
channels  of  permanent  trade. 

This  is  our  opportunity,  there  is  nothing  that  can  be 
made  elsewhere  in  the  world  that  cannot  be  made  at  San 
Francisco.  The  moment  the  European  war  is  over  there 
will  be  a  rush  to  set  their  mills  in  motion  again,  when 
American  gains  will  receive  a  check.  Manufactures  at 
the  present  time  in  Europe  are  nearly  destroyed.  Raw 
materials  at  present  is  not  wanted  there  so  much  as  manu- 
factured goods,  and  manufactured  goods  we  cannot  get 
from  there  if  we  would ;  so  that  the  double  benefit  is  thrust 
upon  us,  that  while  building  upon  our  own  resources  to 
the  utmost  advantage  the  opportunity  is  afforded  us  of 
establishing  permanent  trade  with  all  the  world.  And 
unless  America  adopts  some  more  effective  and  aggressive 
industrial  policy  than  has  yet  appeared  Germany,  when 
once  the  war  is  over,  will  soon  regain  her  lost  advantages 
and  drive  competitors  from  the  field,  because  young  Ger- 
mans are  willing  to  learn  more  and  work  harder  than 
others,  depending  for  success  more  on  their  own  strength 
and  ability  than  on  the  weakness  of  competitors,  while 
refusing  labor  limitations  or  any  interference  in  their 
affairs  by  the  pirates  of  industry. 

Thus  endowed  by  nature  and  opportunity  to  assume 
and  maintain  the  industrial  supremacy  of  the  world  the 
discerning  mind  cannot  but  perceive  that  there  is  some- 
thing wrong  somewhere,  that  San  Francisco  has  thus  far 

20 


MODERN    FALLACIES 

failed  to  see  or  make  avail  of  her  high  privileges,  and  that 
with  all  her  natural  advantages  California  is  not  in  the 
way  of  profiting  as  largely  as  she  might  from  the  Panama 
canal  and  the  war  in  Europe. 

Instead  of  manufacturing  for  others  we  do  not  even 
manufacture  to  any  great  extent  for  ourselves,  but  draw 
largely  for  our  requirements  from  the  east  and  middle 
west.  Of  the  many  million  dollars  worth  of  orders  now 
beginning  to  come  in  from  Europe  the  Pacific  coast  gets 
but  few,  and  will  receive  in  the  future  less  rather  than 
more  unless  we  make  more  of  the  articles  we  would  sell. 
Apart  from  horticulture  we  cannot  claim  for  California 
an  agricultural  state  of  the  first  class ;  our  products  in  the 
mouths  of  starving  millions  are  luxuries  rather  than  nec- 
essities, even  our  dried  fruit  being  a  drug  in  the  market 
and  unremunerative  to  the  grower,  while  wheat,  once  our 
chief  product,  but  which  now  the  worn-out  soil  refuses  to 
grow  extensively  without  better  farming,  soars  high  in  all 
the  marts  of  the  world. 

Our  commerce  too,  in  the  absence  of  staple  products 
and  manufactured  articles  to  ship  away  must  remain 
moderate.  Foreign  commerce  is  a  nation's  road  to  great- 
ness, but  it  is  not  greatness  itself.  Merely  the  handling 
and  transporting  of  goods  is  w^ork  for  the  crossroads.  The 
commerce  that  counts  is  in  the  sale  and  transportation  of 
home  manufactured  articles,  not  in  sending  cotton  abroad 
to  buy  back  in  cloth. 

There  is  no  profit  in  pretense.  No  responsive  thrill 
rises  in  the  breast  of  an  experienced  merchant  or  manu- 
facturer at  the  cries  of  "Boost!  Boost!"  "Have  a  buy- 
ing day!"  "Buy  it  now!"  The  shop-window  petticoat 
marked  $4.98  does  not  strike  him  as  a  dollar  less  than  $5 
in  price.  Nor  do  the  w^ords  "croaker,"  "knocker,"  "pes- 
simist," have  any  terrors  for  him.  No  one  knows  better 
than  he  that  factories  are  not  operated  on  empty  air,  and 


RETROSPECTION 

that  meetings  and  organizations  for  the  promotion  of 
manufactures  where  no  provision  is  made  for  operatives 
of  a  quality  and  at  a  wage  which  will  enable  our  factories 
to  compete  with  those  of  other  nations,  meetings  where 
the  too  timid  members  dare  not  even  speak  the  words 
"cheap  labor"  are  misleading  and  futile. 

Let  those  who  will  hitch  their  wagon  to  a  star;  if  not 
securely  fastened,  and  you  are  v»ase,  you  will  let  the  other 
fellow  get  in  and  ride.  Boost  and  bright  optimism  are 
pitfalls  unless  arising  from  actual  conditions  and  sus- 
tained by  good  business  sense.  In  business  and  boost  as 
elsewhere  truth  is  stronger  than  fiction.  If  the  plain  facts 
regarding  the  superlative  advantages  of  San  Francisco 
bay  as  a  World  Centre  of  Industry  do  not  appeal  to  the 
hard-headed  man  of  affairs  it  is  useless  resorting  to  clap- 
trap. 

We  should  have  on  this  coast  100  woolen  mills,  1000 
cotton  mills,  and  5000  other  factories,  and  will  have  some 
day,  these  or  their  equivalent,  but  only  when  conditions 
appeal  to  capital,  and  mill-owners  are  free  to  manage 
their  business  their  own  way,  yet  always  within  the  bounds 
of  humanity  and  healthful  progress,  but  without  inter- 
ference from  interlopers  of  whatsoever  kind  or  quality. 

In  a  loose-jointed  republican  government  extremes 
often  meet.  As  between  the  dregs  of  low  society  and  the 
chaff  of  high  society  there  is  little  to  choose.  The  inter- 
mediate class  is  the  commonwealth,  those  who  work, 
either  with  hands  or  head;  those  who  do  things,  either 
with  money  or  brain.  Work  is  the  greatest  thing  in  the 
world;  God's  curse,  man's  redemption;  the  Creator's 
primal  punishment,  man's  greatest  blessing.  Work  is 
civilization,  and  civilization  is  humanity  reinforced.  The 
Panama  canal  and  the  California  expositions  are  the 
apotheosis  of  labor,  not  the  apotheosis  of  the  manipulators 
22 


MODKKX    FALLA('1P:S 

of  labor.  A  workless  world  is  savagery,  and  the  workless 
part  of  society  is  the  worst  part.  Wherefore  as  God's 
best  gift,  though  given  us  in  anger,  we  hail  it  as  divine, 
and  place  it  high  above  principalities  and  powers. 

The  workinginan  of  to-day  is  the  concrete  expression  of 
that  form  of  labor  which  bore  the  primal  curse  for  some 
several  thousand  years,  whether  as  the  slave  of  brute 
force  or  as  the  creature  of  capital,  but  which  now  in  the 
more  advanced  countries  has  fairly  well  emancipated 
itself.  Then  gradually  arose  apostles  of  chicane  and 
greed,  who  gained  ascendency  over  the  workingman  to 
exploit  him.  Thus  was  invented  and  applied  coersive 
measures,  nominally  for  the  benefit  of  the  laborer,  but 
really  to  strengthen  the  position  of  the  walking  delegate, 
as  strikes  and  incendiarism,  the  boycott  blackmail  and 
unionism ;  later  came  dynamite  as  the  ultimate  appeal. 

While  the  walking  delegate  himself  did  no  work,  he 
fared  sumptuously  every  day  upon  the  work  of  others. 
Contributions  and  crimes  were  imposed.  Dues  were  levied 
and  arbitrary  rules  established;  no  American  boy  might 
learn  a  trade  even  of  his  own  father  without  obtaining 
permission  and  paying  for  it;  any  respectable  citizen  in 
the  legitimate  pursuit  of  his  calling  might  for  purposes 
of  coercion  or  revenge  be  brought  to  annoyance  or  ruin 
by  means  of  the  infamous  boycott. 

There  is  in  nearly  every  large  city  a  coterie  of  nonde- 
scripts who  do  not  work  but  who  live  from  the  work  of 
others;  who  exploit  the  Avorkingman  ostensibly  for  his 
good  but  in  reality  for  their  own  selfish  purposes;  who 
till  the  minds  of  their  proteges  with  false  notions,  insur- 
rectionary and  un-American, — that  they  have  rights  which 
others  do  not  possess,  that  they  have  claims  on  their  fellow 
men  which  are  not  reciprocal,  and  of  which  their  neigh- 
bors are  endeavoring  to  deprive  them.  To  maintain  these 
alleged  rights  they  are  justified  in  resorting  to  any  means. 

23 


RETROSPECTION 

legal  or  otherwise,  even  to  coercion  and  crime;  in  defense 
of  which  incendiary  claims  before  the  facile  courts  they 
employ  lawyers,  paid  large  fees  from  the  pockets  of  the 
workingmen,  and  who  hesitate  not  at  subornation  and 
perjury. 

Called  by  various  names,  as  walking  delegate,  boss, 
sponge,  demagogue,  labor  leader,  exploiter  of  the  work- 
ingman,  the  toilers,  as  the  press-panderers  sanctimoniously 
call  them,  are  coddled  until,  deprived  of  their  natural 
manliness  they  become  as  children  in  the  hands  of  de- 
signing men.  Unions  are  formed  and  the  rights  of  others 
invaded.  Business  men  and  a  pliant  newspaper  press 
submit  to  impudent  and  unjust  demands  in  the  manage- 
ment of  their  affairs,  fearing  loss  of  patronage;  judges, 
office-holders,  all  who  live  by  the  ballot  acquiescing,  for 
labor  has  votes  to  dispose  of.  In  this  way  labor  becomes 
a  trust,  a  monopoly,  all  the  work  is  given  at  a  high  wage 
to  half  of  the  workingmen,  the  other  half  being  left  labor- 
less  to  starve.  Contract  work,  in  defiance  of  law  and 
justice,  is  given  not  to  the  lowest  bidder,  but  to  unionism. 

As  often  as  otherwise,  in  the  arrogance  of  ignorance, 
the  labor  leaders  resort  to  measures  unfavorable  to  labor, 
as  defeating  any  measure  for  the  public  benefit  if  thereby 
they  can  posa  as  champions  of  labor;  making  the  -wage  of 
class  work  equal,  regardless  of  the  worth  or  efficiency  of 
individual  workers;  advancing  the  labor  wage  until  it  be- 
comes prohibitory  to  industry,  resulting  in  non-employ- 
ment and  high  cost  of  living.  Thinking  to  gain  votes 
thereby  they  refused  to  grant  music  lovers  the  privilege 
of  erecting  a  million  dollar  opera-house,  not  at  public  ex- 
pense but  at  their  own  cost,  thus  withholding  from  the 
pockets  of  their  proteges  their  part  of  the  expenditure, 
and  leaving  in  the  civic  centre  the  unsightly  scar  of  a 
vacant  lot  where  might  now  stand  a  beautiful  edifice. 
They  promulgate  the  false  doctrine  not  of  their  right  to 

24 


:\ioDERN  fallacip:s 

work,  which  no  one  denies  them,  but  their  right  to  demand 
that  the  government,  that  is  to  say  their  fellow-citizens 
shall  provide  them  with  work,  whether  necessary  or  profit- 
able or  not,  whicli  is  but  another  form  of  blackmail  lead- 
ing to  pauperism.  As  well  might  trade  demand  of  labor 
profitable  custom,  or  capital  a  good  investment. 

In  legislation  every  measure  affecting  patronage  is 
stoutly  opposed  that  does  not  give  labor  some  unfair  ad- 
vantage, some  special  and  unjust  privilege.  Every  advan- 
tage over  his  neighbor  is  his  right,  free  schools,  free 
hospitals,  courts,  and  penitentiaries,  while  paying  nothing 
for  the  support  of  the  government  that  protects  him  in 
his  infamies. 

The  aims  and  actions  of  the  labor  leaders  strike  at 
the  very  heart  of  American  liberty,  giving  to  one  class  the 
power  of  coercion  while  depriving  their  victims  of  any 
means  of  defense.  Thus  laziness  and  inefficiency  are 
fxalted  as  meritorious ;  to  do  the  least  possible  work  for 
the  highest  pay  serves  right  his  natural  enemy  the  em- 
ployer, the  capitalist,  or  the  government.  The  further 
fallacy  is  instilled  that  restriction  by  law  to  a  short  day's 
work  is  a  gain  forced  from  the  employer,  when  in  truth 
it  is  a  direct  loss  to  the  w^orkingman,  to  his  worth  to 
himself  and  others,  which  in  the  end  rules  all. 

The  right  to  work;  labor  demands  it  and  the  law  con- 
cedes it.  The  right  to  work;  unionism  demands  it  for 
itself,  but  denies  the  right  to  others,  the  law  winking 
acquiescence.  But  this  is  not  to  the  point.  Labor  leaders 
demand  for  their  proteges,  as  before  stated,  their  right  to 
demand  that  their  neighbor,  that  is  to  say  the  man  with 
money  or  the  government,  shall  furnish  him  with  work. 
Reverse  the  proposition,  say  that  the  workingman  shall 
supply  the  tradesman  with  customers,  the  lawyer  with 
clients,  and  tlie  banker  with  depositors  and  the  absurdity 
appears,      l^nionism  demands  for  itself  the  special  privi- 

25 


KETROSPECTION 

leges  it  denies  to  others.  It  demands  that  all  the  work 
shall  be  given  to  half  the  laborers,  while  the  other  half 
is  left  to  starve.  It  demands  that  this  coterie  shall  have 
short  hours  and  high  pay,  and  enforces  its  demands  upon 
the  disobedient  by  means  of  blackmail  and  the  boycott, 
judges  who  are  elected  by  votes  sustaining  the  injustice. 
A  singular  state  of  things,  one-half  of  the  workingmen 
unemployed,  while  all  the  work  is  given  to  the  other  half  at 
an  exorbitant  wage,  a  wage  fatal  to  manufactures  and 
prohibitory  to  general  prosperity  and  progress.  Likewise 
the  non-reversible  absurdity  that  it  is  an  obligation  on  the 
part  of  one  class  of  citizens  to  furnish  another*  class  with 
work,  that  is  to  say  with  support,  since  work  is  their 
support.  I  am  not  speaking  of  economic  policy  or  ethical 
obligations  but  only  of  the  lawless  arrogance  assumed  by 
unionism. 

Wealth  is  won  by  work,  by  work  and  economy.  The 
same  field  is  open  to  the  laborer  of  to-day,  the  same  oppor- 
tunity to  utilize  the  natural  and  economic  resources  of 
the  country  that  his  predecessors  had. 

Instead  of  making  avail  of  it  the  exploiters  of  labor 
prowl  around  to  secure  all  they  can  from  government,  that 
is  to  say  the  people  through  their  representatives  in  office 
who  live  on  votes,  and  from  capital,  that  is  to  say  from 
those  who  have  done  their  work  and  saved  up  the  pro- 
ceeds. Another  fallacy, — to  give  the  laborer  more  time, 
not  for  the  beer-shops  but  for  home  enjoyment  and  mental 
culture. 

The  intellectual  life  is  open  to  him  who  wants  it, 
whether  his  wage  is  three  or  six  dollars  a  day.  Intellec- 
tual loafing  is  not  intellectual  living,  the  former  being  the 
special  province  of  college  graduates  and  scions  of  wealth. 
Intellectual  boozing  is  another  sort  of  culture,  practised 
alike  by  club-men  and  hod-carriers.     Let  us  beware  of  an 

26 


MODERN    FALLACIES 

excess  of  kultur  and  conscience,  lest  we  fall  into  the  errors 
of  the  kaiser. 

There  are  classes  of  workers  and  there  are  grades  of 
work.  There  is  high  grade  work  that  does  and  should 
command  a  high  wage,  and  there  is  low  grade  work  that 
skilled  labor  will  not  touch,  and  which  can  be  done  only 
at  low  wage.  It  degrades  no  one, — you  cannot  degrade 
labor, — it  injures  no  one,  to  give  such  work  to  the  Asiatic, 
who  is  glad  to  get  it,  the  lowest  wage  in  America  being 
more  than  the  highest  wage  in  Asia.  We  can  never  have 
our  World  Centre  of  Industry  Avithout  emplojnng  some 
cheap  labor,  and  it  is  an  insane  policy  on  the  part  of  our 
government  in  excluding  it. 

No  one  objects  to  labor  unions,  but  only  their  abuse 
by  the  exploiters  of  the  workingman.  No  one  objects  to 
unionism,  but  only  to  the  abuse  of  it.  If  unionism  cannot 
win  its  way  fairly  and  honestly  it  would  be  better  abol- 
ished; it  will  never  be  able  to  sustain  itself  by  violence. 
No  one  objects  that  labor  should  unionize,  but  only  that  it 
should  not  tyrannize.  Why  should  we  tamely  submit  to 
the  imposition  of  labor  any  more  than  to  the  imposition 
of  capital?  Labor  unions  for  the  pleasure  and  lawful 
benefit  of  the  members  is  one  thing,  and  to  this  no  one 
can  object;  unionism  as  manipulated  by  professional  over- 
seers for  the  exploitation  of  the  workingman  is  quite 
another  thing,  and  smacks  too  strongly  of  Prussian  mili- 
tarism long  to  be  endured  in  America. 

The  government  is  quite  ready  to  restrict  capitalism 
but  balks  before  laborism.  Governmental  superintendence 
of  labor  is  as  necessary  as  governmental  superintendence 
of  capital, — and  more,  as  labor  has  more  votes  than 
capital,  and  an  excess  of  votes  is  a  fault  of  our  republican 
government. 

Labor  in  all  its  many  interests  and  activities,  as 
unions,    wages,    hours,    and    strikes    should    l)e    under   the 


RETROSPECTION 

immediate  control  of  the  government  and  managed  by- 
honest  and  disinterested  officials  having  equally  at  heart 
the  welfare  of  the  workingman  and  the  interest  of  the 
employer, — should  be  regulated  by  law  as  capital  is  reg- 
ulated, and  not  left  to  the  exploiter  of  the  workingman  to 
act  as  he  pleases  in  defiance  of  law  and  from  purely 
selfish  motives.  Little  by  little  they  are  undermining  the 
government,  inserting  their  insidious  policy  in  the  laws  of 
the  state  and  nation,  only  like  the  railroad  incubus,  let  us 
hope,  to  meet  with  like  defeat  in  the  end,  when  the  people 
return  to  reason  and  to  right. 

In  no  department  of  economics  or  industry,  of  politics 
or  society  is  such  criminal  license  allowed,  such  defiance  of 
law,  equity,  and  decency  permitted  to  go  unpunished, 
unreproved,  as  that  practised  by  the  exploiters  of  the 
workingman.  That  they  should  be  permitted  by  the  boy- 
cott to  ruin  an  honest  tradesman,  in  the  legitimate  pursuit 
of  his  calling,  for  simply  maintaining  his  right  as  an 
American  freeman  to  manage  his  business  himself  instead 
of  allowing  others  to  do  it  for  him,  the  interloper  in  the 
meantime  being  protected  by  the  police  and  sustained  by 
the  courts  in  this  system  of  coercion  and  blackmail  is 
infamous. 

Thus  it  is  easily  seen  why  San  Francisco  is  not  more 
of  a  manufacturing  city.  Labor  is  as  essential  to  manu- 
factures as  is  raw  material.  If  labor  and  material  cannot 
be  had  at  a  fair  and  reasonable  price  home  industry  is 
doomed.  Again  be  it  said,  the  first  consideration  for  this 
country  is  manufactures,  the  first  consideration  for  manu- 
factures is  labor  at  a  fair  price,  the  first  consideration  for 
labor  is  absolute  freedom,  emancipation  from  any  sort  of 
tyranny.  This  is  the  broad  road  to  permanent  prosperity 
and  there  is  none  other. 

And  from  the  government,  to  which  all  good  citizens 

28 


MODERN    FALLACIES 

look  for  redress,  we  get  no  help,  for  judges  and  rulers,  all 
who  live  by  the  ballot-box,  legislative  and  executive  dig- 
nitaries as  well  as  the  vicious  grafter  of  the  municipality, 
are  infected  by  the  same  hunger  for  office,  and  by  the 
itching  palm  that  actuates  and  makes  fat  the  exploiters 
of  the  workingman  and  fills  the  coffers  of  the  highly 
honorable  and  respected  man  of  affairs. 

It  is  all  very  well,  however,  to  rail  at  the  government ; 
the  fault  is  our  own ;  it  lies  with  those  who  prefer  money 
to  morality,  who  prefer  personal  profit  to  the  purity  of 
the  commonwealth,  who  prefer  ill-gotten  gain  to  honesty 
and  decency,  who  prefer  in  courts  judges  Who  wink  at 
wealth  never  forgetting  whence  are  to  come  the  votes  to 
secure  their  reelection, — who  will  submit  to  insult  and 
interference  rather  than  forego  profit,  in  a  word  the  fault 
lies  with  the  influential  members  of  the  community  who 
are  too  indifferent  or  too  timid  to  arise  and  purge  their 
city  of  its  defilement. 

The  trouble  is  that  too  many  of  us  prefer  bad  govern- 
ment to  good,  prefer  pliant  tools  in  office  to  men  we 
cannot  buy,  prefer  slavish  labor  whose  votes  we  can 
control  to  manly  citizenship  in  our  workingmen,  prefer  a 
small  iniquitous  personal  gain  to  the  honor  and  interests 
of  a  great  commonwealth.  And  withal  over  this  small 
personal  gain  which  we  so  jealously  guard  we  are  great 
cowards,  the  best  of  us  even  not  daring  to  speak  from  our 
hearts,  as  was  shown  at  an  election  the  other  day  when 
over  a  score  of  evil  measures  put  forth  by  the  exploiters 
of  the  workingman,  not  a  word  was  spoken  against  them 
while  under  discussion  before  election,  but  at  the  polls 
they  were  defeated  by  a  majority  of  three  or  five  to  one. 

To  all  this,  however,  there  is  a  brighter  side.  These 
evils  will  pass  as  all  evil  passes.  Nowhere  are  found  finer 
specimens  of  liberal  and  chivalrous  manhood  than  here. 
Ever  since  gold-digging  days  California  has  been  proud 

29 


retrospp:ction 

of  her  people,  and  her  people  have  been  proud  of  Cali- 
fornia. 

Though  with  some  money  is  preferred  before  morality, 
and  bribable  office-holders  to  honest  men,  these  are  not 
San  Francisco;  her  citizens  are  much  better  than  the 
average,  more  honest,  more  courteous,  more  progressive. 
It  is  a  city  full  of  joy  and  pleasure,  v^ealthy  and  laud- 
ably ambitious,  and  prosperous  to  a  certain  extent  in 
spite  of  drawbacks  which  let  us  hope  are  only  temporary. 
And  yet  more.  There  will  come  a  time  when  this 
American  soil  will  grow  men  free  from  that  inordinate 
craving  for  office,  that  love  of  power  and  political  plunder 
which  is  the  curse  of  this  republican  government,  tend- 
ing as  it  does  to  degrade  mind  and  morals  and  to  sacrifice 
the  highest  intellectual  gifts  upon  the  altar  of  expedi- 
ency. There  will  come  a  time  when  on  these  shores  of 
the  Pacific  there  will  be  grown  a  race  of  men  with  loftier 
ideals  concerning  man  and  his  destiny  than  any  which 
have  yet  appeared,  men  who  will  value  the  honor  and 
dignity  of  their  country  above  any  personal  advantage, 
and  will  have  too  high  a  regard  for  labor  to  permit  the 
true  interest  of  the  various  classes  of  workingmen  to  be 
wrecked  by  suicidal  policies. 

Then,  too,  will  have  passed  Prussian  militarism,  the 
underlying  principle  of  kaiser  kultur,  the  dementia  of 
Treitschke  and  Neitzsche  and  Eucken,  the  deification  of 
force,  of  brute  force  and  brutishness,  the  deification  of 
dishonor,  of  treachery,  of  robbery  and  murder,  the  basis  of 
Teutonic  conscience  and  morale,  an  Acheron  stream  bear- 
ing upon  its  surface  pretended  purity  and  progress  to  the 
ennobling  and  redemption  of  the  nations, — militarism,  a 
memory  to  be  recalled  with  horror. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.00  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  LIBRARY 


